Love As Is
by ReWritten-string-of-stories
Summary: Three years after the close of the anime - Kitajima Maya is an acclaimed young actress and Hayami Masumi is still the top producer of the game. Providence draws them together but they are the masters of their fate. Will they...or won't they?
1. First Act

**Story - Love As Is  
Author - Yours Truly, my dear readers.  
Genre - Glass Mask, romance!  
Preface - Hayami Masumi & Kitajima Maya, star-crossed lovers? Perhaps. It's been three years since Tsukikage-sama cut herself off from the world, since Masumi married, since Maya re-entered the acting industry to perfect her craft. But things are changing, an old love blossoming, and no one can help Maya and Masumi but themselves. Will they...or won't they?  
Key - The cross-like figure represents a break in time within the same point of view. The cross surrounded by left and right slashes represents a switch in point of view and, more often than not, a break in time from the previous dialogue.  
Author's Notes: I've actually been thinking about writing this for awhile...there are so few 'Whatever happened to them?' out there. I listened to FrouFrou's "The Dumbing Down of Love", Sara Bareilles' "Betwen the Lines" & "Gravity", and Kate Havnevik's "Grace" while writing the break up scene. Go figure. Anyway, here ya go! Enjoy.****

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First Act

"The beginning is the most important part of the work." - Plato

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"How do you feel about your upcoming role in the second remake of _Hotelier_?"

"Is it true that Daitou Theater has made offers to get you to leave Seiriten & Co?"

"Have you heard news of Ayumi-san's role in the movie Koi Zora?"

Maya Kitajima blinked once but let the questions wash over her. So many questions, so many people. And so little time. Starlets gave up many things in their quests to become the best in their fields - Maya was no stranger to the lack of privacy. Indeed, after thirteen years of working and struggling and perfecting her craft, she was used to being pelted with questions as sharp and hard as didn't bother her as much as used to because she hadn't been involved in scandal for over five years. Her brief affair with Sakurakoji-kun hadn't even really rocked the industry as much as it could have.

Alright, it had rocked the industry. Rather hard, actually. It had gotten her knowing looks from her former Tsukikage Theater comrades, a severe ribbing from Ayumi and Rei, and the undying hatred of a few hundred fangirls. But Sakurakoi had been an amazing friend, and the perfect boyfriend, even if the love had dwindled back into friendship after half a year. Sadly, the hatred of his preteen fangirls had blazed all the brighter after the break-up. But...that was another chapter, wasn't it? After losing the role of Satoko after the loss of her mother, Maya could handle anything. If she had weathered those tragedies, she could very well weather the whirlwind of public romance. Nothing would shatter her ever again.

To have come this far, Maya still couldn't believe it. She had people who loved her and wanted the best for her, who stood by her side and cheered for her. Even if she was overwhelmed by loneliness sometimes, even if in the midst of a crowd she felt herself separate, even if she hadn't seen Hayami Masumi more than a handful of times in the last three years, she had more than most people had. She was still in love with her career and was learning so much about how to perfect her craft every single day. Her name had aquired such weight that she could afford to pick and choose her roles now, and manage time well enough to see those she loved and work with what she loved. Scandal would never rock her, upsets would never stop her, and Kitajima Maya was convinced of her own self-worth. She had more than enough to be happy about, and she was grateful for and thankful to providence everyday.

Her manager and her assistants made headway through the crowd, batting away the more overzealous of the reporters and moving through the rest. Maya smiled for show but said nothing. Her business was her own and the mask she wore in public would not shatter anymore.

"Kitajima-san, what about the Crimson Goddess?"

_What about it?_ She couldn't block the thought. The elusive play was in the hands of the two women most suited to the role, and overseen by the one man who had fought for it most. Immediately following the week in Plum Valley, Ayumi and Maya had been hounded for weeks on end about the rights to production. The two had had to meet in private to decide that silence would be best - that not even family nor friends could be spoken to about the play. The press was too dangerous, the secret unsafe, the world too greedy. Maya had wondered if Tsukikage-sensei had left instructions somewhere...to someone..._anyone_ but doubted. Genzou-san had been the only one she would trust with precious information.

Unless Genzou had trusted someone else, who was biding their time. Ayumi agreed. There had to be other instructions, some sort of guide, something conclusive somewhere. But God only knew what the plan was.

"Are you hungry?" Otoka Megumi, the manager, swept her bangs back and pulled a folder out of her big brown purse. The folder was their life's blood - a weekly calendar that held anything and everything planned for Maya that week. And, boy, it was a busy week. She was set to "Traffic is rather light today so we'll make it about fifteen minutes early. Takoyaki or sashimi?"

"Sashimi." Maya grinned and reached for the folder. "Let's switch things up today."

Megumi arched an eyebrow. "Just because?"

"Today's a good day," the young actress responded carelessly. "A very good day."

Megumi was used to her charge's cheerfulness and Maya had never been much for routine. Still, the woman ended up wondering why today should be any different. Well, it didn't really matter did it? As long as her charge was happy.

xXx

"I'm not sure why you are holding unto 'us' so tightly."

_Any other woman would be crying at this point,_ thought Hayame Shiori with an internal sigh. Better internal than external. Better controlled than helpless under the onslaught of emotions. She might have been born with a weak constitution and started out with an unstable character but she'd changed. This charade had been comfortable in the beginning, when he'd seen Kitajima Maya rarely, when he'd focused on her more. Even if she hadn't had his heart, she'd had his attention. Even if she hadn't been the love of his life, she'd become a very good friend.

But Shiori now believed in calling a spade a spade.

Once Kitajima had returned to the industry under Daitou Productions, the charade was shown for what it was - a fleeting vision of warmth, a snapshot in time of something that could never be, a farce in the face of what her husband felt for his subordinate. Masumi was in love with Maya, had been in love with Maya long before Shiori had entered the picture.

_And yet I entered the picture anyway._

The two families had arranged the marriage, Eisuke Hayame hurrying things along once he'd realized his son would unconsciously delay things as long as possible. Said it would be in the best interests of all involved to make sure that the wedding happened soon after the strange disappearance of Tsukikage-sama and her butler. Said a wedding was a new beginning. Shiori had doubted him even as he said it but hoped that it would be true.

Her love for him had waxed stronger after marriage. But it wasn't enough. And she'd fought (oh, how long she'd fought) but it had never been enough. Now it had come to this: after thirteen years of wondering at what point she wouldn't be able to take it anymore, she had decided the day had come. Yes, any other woman might have been crying softly or cursing the distraught man across from her. Not her. Shiori Hayami nee Takamiya had known this day was coming for a long time, and in the face of her divorce, was more relieved than anything else.

"We've always known that this day was coming." She reached across the table to take one of his beloved hands in hers. "You don't want to admit it. You've never wanted to."

"We've known? _We_?" Masumi looked stunned, and it made her ache for the privacy of being alone to cry. He didn't want to believe it. "Shiori, _we_ haven't known this at all! You cannot decide this on your own. You do not have that right! I can't...where...how...when did you even-"

She headed him off before he could plead ignorance. Niceness wouldn't break through his veneer, or get it through his head. She would just have to slap him in the face with the truth.

"Silence," she said swiftly. "Be quiet and just listen. Even if you had no idea, I did. I've always known that you were in love with Maya."

_How could I have not? There'd been no way to blind myself to it._

God, just remembering the first moment she'd seen him laugh. At something Maya had done. Eyes so focused that she'd suspected he'd been in the habit of memorizing the girl's face. And then suspected a lot more in the week after that, where she'd done something couth and unlady-like and very much unlike her. She'd hired a discreet investigator to tail him wherever he went and to find out as much about him as she could.

Her obsession had sky-rocketed after that. Shiori had become single-minded in wedging her rival and her love farther and farther apart. Her beauty and culture wasn't enough so she'd resorted to learning more about his business to replace that intuitive secretary, and to learning as much as she could about cooking and cleaning and managing a rich household. Shiori had been determined to overcome her sickliness as well. She hid it from him when she could and minimized it when she couldn't. It hadn't been a racking coughing bout that had kept her up all night, not at all - she just hadn't been able to sleep. She would often worry that he could see through the fibs but he'd given no indication that he had.

But, of course he hadn't. Not when all he had ever seen was Kitajima Maya.

"Long before we got married, I realized what you had not realized yourself. You've always loved her, you _still_ love her, and you very likely always will." She promised herself that she would cry later. The words weren't coming as easily as they should. "You always will, Masumi. Just the way a part of me will always love you too."

She wondered absently why he always went so white when she voiced this particular truth. Was it because he was still lying to himself about the reality of his feelings, or because 'forever' didn't seem real to him? Or was it because she was the one voicing it? Perhaps saying it to yourself was different than hearing it aloud, where the words took shape and form in the air and hung with real weight.

Shiori steeled herself for the next words-

"It ruined me before. I'm not proud of the things I did before our engagement and I'm not proud of the person I became after our marriage. The things I did are inexcusable but, in my defense, I did them out of love. I've only ever done things for you out of my love." Masumi's face was even paler than before. "What I felt for you eclipsed anything I'd ever felt for anyone before. I needed you to see me, _only_ me, and when you couldn't do that, I vowed I would turn you to me however I could."

She'd seen her need for his love as essential, not reckless, and her single-mindedness as focus, when it was in fact an unhealthy indulgence.

"But we've been better in the last year," he pleaded, "haven't we?"

Shiori stared at him. They had. But he seemed to think it was because of romantic love and it wasn't. Well, at least, not for one party involved. The fight for his heart was fruitless. She knew that now. And, heavens, though it had hurt to give it up, she'd resolved to do so. He wouldn't love her the way she wanted to. And she couldn't make him.

"We've become friends in the last year," she corrected. "Something that we should have done before because marriage is not for strangers. We didn't know each other, Masumi, but we got to know each other last year. And it's made me see-"

"Isn't that progress?" Still pleading. The great cold-hearted director of Daitou Productions was pleading. "Isn't it?"

Shiori closed her eyes, her throat nearly closing up. She had to believe she wouldn't cry.

"I can't make you love me if you don't." She opened her tired eyes. Pinned him with her gaze. "Do you understand me? I cannot make you love me and, frankly, I'm tired of trying. I'm tired of being second place. I'm tired of finishing last."

Becoming his friend had been one of the most eye-opening, most rewarding, most painful things she'd ever done. She knew him almost as well as Karato Hijari-san did. And she now knew herself even better.

"It's because we got so close that I can no longer fool myself into thinking I can stay. I want out of this relationship because-" and here, she couldn't stop her voice from trembling, "I deserve to be loved. I deserve to be someone's first place, and if it isn't you, then I would like to go find him. I want a house full of laughter and love, where I will never find myself wishing I were a different person. Where I'm not struggling to learn more to keep him tied to me, where a child will be more than just a way to make him mine. I _need _that. I deserve more than this and better than you."

Masumi couldn't look more pained if she'd struck him across the face herself. "But I tried."

"I know."

She stood then, and let her eyes wander around the room. It was only fitting that the break-up took place in one of her favorite rooms of the house. Masumi had given her free reign of this house after they'd chosen it as their primary Tokyo residence. It had been unloved and un-lived in - the cobwebs alone had given her pause when she'd visited prior to the move-in. But this room had been spacious and airy at it worst. And now, three years later, it was beautiful at its best. This was their shared study (they had separate ones, of course, in a house as large as this one) and she remembered how pleased he'd been when she'd shown him the fruit of her redecoration efforts. Many a night had been spent here - Masumi reading over files from work at the desk on one end, and Shiori curled up close to the heat of the fireplace at the other. She came around the table to stand in front of him. All of those nights - she would miss that.

And she would miss him very very much.

"I know you tried." The hand she touched his beloved face shook. Her vision swam. She fought it fiercely. She won the battle but knew she had little time before the war was lost. "I think you really did the best that you could but the truth is we've run out of time, and there's no reason for us to be together. We were finished before we started."

"Shiori, I-" He stopped speaking when the hoarse words stopped coming. She watched as held her hand against his face. His eyes were sad. "I'm just...I can't begin to...I'm sorry. I am so very sorry."

"We did what we could," she whispered, "and we are friends, are we not? And friends wish each other happiness. We deserve to be happy, Masumi, and we should be. It's just that for us 'happiness' definitely means being apart."

Shiori used both hands to cup his face. She smiled bravely. The very faint laugh lines around his mouth, the strength of his jaw, the way his thick hair fell around his face, how his shirt was halphazardly unbuttoned when he returned from work. This had been her whole world for longer than she cared to remember. But she would remember. So she'd might as well take the time to memorize him right now.

"And you know what, darling? That is _okay_. It's okay. It's okay and it's right for us to go our separate ways."

"I'm sorry that I couldn't be what you needed," he whispered. His hand on hers relaxed, and let go. "I wish I could have."

Hayami Shiori let go too, and kissed him on the cheek. No lingering, no self-infliction of pain. She crossed the room with her spine straight and her head held high, so that there would be no regrets. Letting go wasn't supposed to be easy - still, she waited until she was safe inside her car before the walls came crashing down. She lost the war...then lost herself.


	2. Second Act

**Story - Love As Is  
Author - Yours Truly, my dear readers.  
Genre - Glass Mask, romance!  
Preface - Hayami Masumi & Kitajima Maya, star-crossed lovers? Perhaps. It's been three years since Tsukikage-sama cut herself off from the world, since Masumi married, since Maya re-entered the acting industry to perfect her craft. But things are changing, an old love blossoming, and no one can help Maya and Masumi but themselves. Will they...or won't they?  
Key - The triple x's represent a break in time. And the bold triple x's mean a change in perspective.  
Author's Notes: I'm blending the anime, the manga, and the live-action a little bit. She does not have a brother in my story. My blending is really the extra Masumi/Maya scenes [i.e., the Anna Karenina date in the live action] and extra 'Shiori tries to ruin everyone' scenes. Thanks to Celeste - I agree, there is NOT enough of this fandom's fiction to peruse. I can count the decent ones on a single hand. But here...Enjoy.**

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Second Act

"Surprises are foolish things. The pleasure is not enhanced, and the inconvenience is often considerable." - Jane Austen

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Hayami Masumi had never been one to over-indulge in any vice but in the three days after his wife's appeal for divorce, he found himself deep in his cups. He hated it, hated giving in, but he was willing to give himself a full week to drinking himself into a stupor before he resumed business as usual. He hadn't left the house since the bomb had detonated on Monday. It was now Wednesday evening and he'd let himself go completely. If a man couldn't let himself go in the aftermath of his divorce, then when the hell was he supposed to do so? Masumi didn't plan on leaving his set of rooms for a little while unless it was to tell his butler to get him a few more handles of liqueur. Scotch, rum, whiskey, tequila, sake. Imported goodness and then nice old-fashioned Japanese stuff. He'd polished off this last handle in under seven hours. Record time, really. God, he was a business tycoon - reknown for reckless decisions and careless cruelty - and he was supposed to have it together in his personal life too. _So much for that,_ he thought to himself as he pillowed his head in his arms. _So much for that._

Truthfully, divorce had been a surprise.

It was such a terrible word. It sounded like 'shock', 'failure', and 'slap in the face' all rolled delightfully into one. Come to think of it, the word 'surprise' was rather like that too. He continued to wander if it would hurt as much if he didn't like her. He still couldn't understand how he could have seen it coming. He still felt like he was walking around half-stunned. Shiori had slammed him with the truth of his feelings then walked out of their study and into the world a liberated woman. Who deserved better than him. And who would surely find it, because any man would be better than the failure of a husband he'd been.

He thought back to the night three years ago where he'd tried to redirect the course of his life and do the right thing. The night that he'd decided that he and Maya were people on opposite sides of the track, with the light always red, had been the night he'd resolved to stop his obsession with the girl. Where the age-gap and her hatred of him hadn't discouraged him, her constant misunderstanding had done done the trick. The light would never turn green. He would never be able to successfully communicate the way he felt. He couldn't win.

It had been the first time in his adult life that he'd admitted defeat: bitter, slippery, unbearable.

He'd resolved to begin the process of weaning himself off of her, and for a while, he'd fooled himself into thinking he'd done a great job. Not. So clearly he hadn't. And now this? His wife, excuse the slip-up, his former wife had said little but confessed much. True, he'd suspected that Shiori had had a hand in Maya's destruction a few years ago but he'd buried them the day he made her his wife. To hear her so openly state it had shocked him. Hell, the entire conversation had shocked him. How could he pick out just one statement that had ruined him beyond the rest? To hear her say that he would always love Maya was probably a close second. Probably. Not definitely. When he drank, his mind tended to mix up the rankings and blow everything out of proportion.

_For now,_ he thought blearily as he raised his head to down another shot , _for now it's a close second. And third?_

His first mistake had been not masking his feelings better and his second had been not turning towards her fully. Because he hadn't been strong enough to pick "either or"...either abandon the engagement and go to Kitajima Maya, or suck it up and forget about the one he'd left to love the one he was with.

He'd ruined Shiori. He knew that now. Here was this woman who was just as priceless as Maya - lovely and smart and genuinely witty when she put her heart into it, as she had in the last year of marriage - and he couldn't go to her. Masumi had tried to commit completely but clearly he'd fucked things up royally. Her instability, her sudden desire to learn everything about the business - she was more beautiful and more sophisticated than any other woman he'd ever known and yet he'd made her feel like none of that was worth a dime. Not a dime. If he'd only-

"Not going to dwell." He swayed in his seat...slid back to settle more comfortably in his study chair. The ceiling looked so very far away. "No d-dwelling."

Yes, well, he'd stop slurring his words and quit dwelling come Friday evening when he was due back in the office for a meeting with God-only-knew-who over heavens-knew-what. The company ran itself these days - his only sign of active involvement was to follow the handful of actors and actresses he considered topnotch in the form of appearing at their practices or silently cheering them on opening days. Key word: silent. He was _still_ considered a heartless bastard by ninety percent of the field. Heaven only knew what nickname he would earn in light of his failed marriage. He would try and keep it from the press for as long as humanly possible but he didn't hold much hope for it being under wraps longer than two weeks.

_What am I supposed to do now?_

Nothing, he supposed. Perhaps wallowing was as much as he could do. Thank God his father was dead, and her family would be far more understanding of divorce than the old man could ever be. Shiori's mother, Kaori, had certainly suspected something afot from the get-go. No doubt that the woman would be pleased to see her daughter free of him, and free to be herself. Shiori's father would go to the ends of the earth for his only child, and his only child would make sure that everyone parted on good terms. God, but he really did care about her. The drink was switching up the rankings again.

Drumroll please, for the brand new winner of first place: Shiori was one of his closest friends, and he was going to lose her. Yes, that sounded about right. In the last year, they had finally made a move to become friends. Not just husband and wife, not just lovers who indulged in the physical and not the emotional, not just a man and woman who shared a bed and a name and a house to come home to. Masumi had noticed a change in her, approximately eleven months ago, and he could pin it to a single even in a single evening that made him open his eyes. He'd come home, expecting to see his wife at the dinner table as per usual, but instead she'd been reading a book in front of the fire.

Looking lovely in the light of the study. Said she hadn't cared for dinner but he would be welcome to his meal, if he'd still like. Masumi had been surprised - she'd appeared to be a creature of firm routine. Here she was - gazing at him coolly from across the room (had she expected him to challenge her declaration?) before turning back to her book when he'd told her he'd return downstairs. The change had been as clear as a ringing bell. The real Shiori - yes, the one who could be witty and funny and pleasantly surprising - had turned up for a guest appearance then settled in for a permanent stay. He'd felt honored to have the privilege of seeing the real Shiori, and in turn, had let Shiori in to see the real him. Maybe they'd slowly stopped the physical side of things in the last year - (actually, he couldn't recall the last time they'd had sex - which was probably a good thing) - but now she was as dear and as close to him at Hijari.

Who was probably going to storm in here the minute he found out about the divorce that Masumi had no intention of sharing with him.

A horrible word...divorce. Like 'shock', 'failure', 'slap in the face' all rolled delightfully into one...why on earth did that thought feel so familiar? And why was the ceiling so goddamned far away? The thing seemed to be moving beyond his peripherals, or perhaps had disappeared altogether so that he could get a clear view of the night. Which wasn't good at all because the night sky was so large that his mind would just continue to wander away until Shiori, and Maya, and the divorce, and perhaps even Masumi himself became small and meaningless in view of the endless expanse of stars and sky and-

His thought process halted.

God, he was tired.

He needed another bloody drink.

**xXx**

"She's right, completely right, but pardon me if I don't like it. In all actuality, I _hate_ it."

Maya really hated this role, and that had been _exactly_ why she had chosen it. Her job as an actress required her to exercise a great variety of emotions - and not just exercise but _understand_ them. She hadn't met a role she couldn't wriggle inside of, a character's brain she couldn't deconstruct and pick her way through...until this one. She'd read the script, read the little tidbit of character background that had been offered with the script, and immediately had come to the conclusion that she would take the role. The girl was the most conniving, manipulative, evil little witch that Maya had ever fictitiously encountered and Maya was intrigued.

Intrigued.

"And it's the hating that makes me love it," Maya said firmly. She was looking over the script while she spoke into the phone, stroking the text's spine as she was wont to do. "The character is ugly and complex - not a little unlike Oligeld, but she's just so cruel that I can't wrap my head around her. Megumi could be Tsukikage-sensei's long lost daughter - I swear, Ayumi, she really could."

"Tsukikage-sensei always did say our roles need to be challenging," responded Ayumi, her voice sounding tinny and low-pitched over bad cellphone reception. "And Megumi is quite uncanny. I'm sure she brought it to your attention just because of that. I do wonder why they are sending you the script so early, especially since you're only halfway through filming for Hotelier. Who's funding it? And have you already accepted?"

"I will tomorrow morning, as soon as I let Seiriten know. And it's my first stage play in six months, imagine that. I can't remember who's funding it though. How's filming for KoiZora coming along?"

"Love." Ayumi sighed the word, as if it were the bane of her entire existence. "It's the single emotion I have yet to master - you know that."

"And?"

"And what? It's coming along very well, aside from the 'having never been in love' portion. The character is simple to grasp - the emotion, less so."

Maya dropped the script on her desk and laughed. Leave it to Princess Ayumi (a nickname that Ayumi rejected fiercely) to both belittle her own love life and maximize her skill in the same sentence. She had refused to become involved with anyone in the entirety of her teenage years. Now that she was twenty-four, she was finding that many of the roles she was offered included a need for the display of romantic love. Maya continued to think that it wasn't so much that she was extremely dedicated to work...it was more that Ayumi was too darn smart and more than twice sophisticated than ninety percent of the men she met. The ten percent left all fell prey to her impossibly high standards. The girl was high-maintenance and hadn't realized it yet.

"I keep telling you to be open to the possibility," Maya said half-heartedly. She really had repeated herself more times than she cared to count. "Love is going to come along and blindside you, and you won't like it one bit."

"Says you who can't seem to-" Maya went silent just as Ayumi cut her words off. _Who can't seem to move on from the first one._ Her best friend might as well have finished the sentence since the words hung in the air anyway. The smaller girl blinked at the silence and began to say something when her best friend plunged ahead again. "Never you mind. I'm of half a mind to listen right now."

"Give me the word and I'll let Rei know straight away."

"Don't you dare!"

Here was Maya's second suspicious. Ayumi didn't want anyone she already knew in the industry, and was waiting or someone random to come along. Heretofor unknown talent, mysterious background. A stranger. And perhaps her best friend didn't even know herself well enough to come to that conclusion on her own. Rei really did know most of the people in both the television entertainment and stage entertainment industries. Rei was the third branch of their trio, and so had tried countless times after an initial failed try to convince Ayumi to let her handle everything. But Ayumi either wormed her way out of a meeting with a pretty smile or cut things short prematurely. And Maya hated to say this but -

"You need to let it happen. And you might as well finish your last thought - we all know my issues with love but don't use me an example. You can find yours - the one I could have had is taken and accounted for."

An uncomfortable silence arose.

"I know you avoid talking about Hayami. I'm sorry."

"It's fine." It was. "I'm over it."

She wasn't.

"You aren't." Well, at least Ayumi had never claimed to be anything but blunt. "And that's far worse than my situation. But, since you're pushing this so hard, I'm going to be a big girl and act my age and ask Rei to work her magic for me."

"Really?"

"Yes, really." Ayumi sounded disgruntled now and Maya had to bite back a laugh. "Here is where I expect congratulations, or a token of thanks for accepting good advice."

"No one gets rewarded for accepting advice, Ayumi." This time Maya did laugh. "But I'm excited to see who Rei pulls out - and this time, you've got to give them a chance!"

Grumble, grumble, grumble.

"I'll take that as a 'Yes, Maya, I will againg gratefully accept more of your advice.' And on that note, we should turn in. Are we all still having lunch on Friday?"

"Yes, we are. Good night, and don't dream of telling Rei a moment before I do."

"I will not," Maya promised. "Good night to you too."

She clicked off and put down the phone, glanced at the time to see that it was already half past nine, then began to stroke the text of the play while her mind wandered. Maya had finally confided in Ayumi and Rei one night about a year ago about Hayami Masumi and the man who sent blue flowers. Granted, it had taken lots of liqueor, ice cream and yan yan to get her drunk enough to spill but spill she had. She wasn't an idiot - she'd suspected for a long time that Masumi had been the man behind the lovely flowers since he'd been dropping hints left and right, right before the tragedy with her mother. He'd been her knight in shining armor in the dark: saved her from harm, supported her in his strange caustic backhanded way, riled her up when she needed a motivation to act, protected her where he could. She hadn't let herself think it - it seemed blasphemy to do so - but she'd known for sure after the rainy night spent with him during the week in Plum Valley. It was him. And she was in love with him.

And had been in love with him, and the idea of him, ever since.

Rei and Ayumi had had very different reactions. The short-haired bishie beauty hadn't been surprised in the least - hadn't blinked an eye, hadn't screamed, hadn't done too much of anything. She'd rubbed Maya's back as the poor girl cried, then comforted her with an 'I told you so'. According to Rei, it had been obvious to anyone with eyes that he liked Maya well enough. Rei had suspected that the blue flowered fan would be someone rich and well-connected, but not someone they knew. But the fact that it was Masumi fit very well, and according to Rei, was further proof that he had cared about her all along. She'd refused to comment on the way things had fallen out with Mrs. Kitajima but had told the room at large that it would fix itself, that she wished for Maya's happiness more than anything.

Ayumi _had_ blinked an eye, _had_ screamed, and done much more besides. She was still represented by Daitou company, and had know Masumi much longer than the other two. She might have sat down heavily in shock (though Maya was pretty hazy on the details) after she'd finished with her screaming. She had never seen so much of a drop of what Rei claimed to see but she had always believed Maya wholeheartedly and wouldn't stop now. Maya thought that telling her this had changed Ayumi's whole perspective on life - a week later, Ayumi mentioned that she couldn't stop staring at the Executive President of Daitou Company because she wanted to see how well his public mask held up. Was he still in love with Maya, Ayumi had wanted to know.

No way to find out since Maya had long since transferred to Seiriten Productions. They never saw each other, accept for the public events that liked to bring actors, actresses, and the companies that presented them together for awards and the like. Even then, Maya tended to stay with Megumi and Rei because then she could discreetly indulge in a few moments (she never allowed herself longer than ten minutes total) of observing the man she'd fallen in love with.

Love.

Something that eluded Ayumi, something Rei recieved freely, something that Maya felt she could never forget.

_I wish I could believe Rei when she says it will all work out for the best_. Maya stood up and stretched_. I'd like to forget and move on but I don't know how_.

She didn't. And that was the problem.

xXx

"Good job, everyone." Friendly echoes of the last words of the day bounced around the room as crew and cast dispersed. Maya was far too thankful that Friday had come, and even more thankful that taping had been finished on time for next week's broadcast. She bowed again as the producer clapped her own the shoulders on his way out.

"Well, that was quick," said Megumi as she held out the knapsack. "Everything went well, I suppose?"

Maya nodded and grinned. "Perfectly! We even got some rehearsing in for next week's episode. Very productive, very good. Any word on the play?"

"No official word on whose funding it yet, though I hear they're been asking various companies. I'm sure we'll know by next week." Megumi smiled and patted the actress on the shoulder as they headed out the double doors of the building. Late rehearsals discouraged the reporters, thank heavens, but the company's bodyguards were always on alert. They flanked the two women immediately.

"You want to drive your car to Ayumi's place or use Seiri's?"

"Mine. I'm supposed to get Rei on my way there."

"Sounds good. ave a good weekend and if you need anything-"

"-you know to reach me. I know, I will if I do." With a last wave, Maya ducked back into the building and headed down to the parking lot where her small car was waiting.

She'd finally learned to drive right around the time that she'd started dating Saku-kun, at his prodding. He made her make time for private lessons and she'd qualified rather quickly. Imagine that, she took to driving as quickly as she'd taken to the stage all those years ago. It was an exceptionally good thing that Seiri Kagame, the Executive Producer of Seiriten, actually _smiled_ upon Maya's having a car. As a woman in a field that was traditionally ruled by men, she smiled upon anything that looked even remotely like women sticking it to men. Maya had abandoned convincing the woman that it was at Saku's insistence, and meekly accepted the praise for her so-called initiative at such a young age.

Right.

She did take a moment to stroke the car, as she often did, when she finally got to her parking space. It was an 'obnoxious dark green', according to Ayumi, 'that didn't disguise the driver in the least'. What Ayumi really meant was that the day the public realized that her car was not a standard-issue black was the day Maya would have to 'employ a full-time regiment of bodyguards'. Rei's words, not hers.

Again, all Maya had to say to that was 'right'.

_Until then, I'm keeping this. _She got in, pulled out smoothly and headed for the exit-

Screech!

Fate, in the form of a white limousine, put the slap down on her. Maya hit the breaks fast enough to both avoid a collision and need a neck brace. Or at least that's what it felt like as she rubbed the side of her head and made sure the rest of her poor body was in working condition. Her head had hit the wheel hard, and she could feel the beginning of a killer headache coming on. She drew her hand up her face to feel around for a - yep, there was a tell-tale knot growing on her forehead. Damn it, she would need ice as soon as possible to keep that thing down.

"Oh God," she moaned aloud as she slowly pulled her had back up to see if the other person was all right. The sound of fast frenzied footsteps approached the car and

"Are you alright?" The man was yelling, and rapping on the car window heavily. She was hurt, not deaf, and she would be better if he would stop that. "Miss, can you hear me? Roll down your window!"

She obliged.

"Miss-"

Familiar, beloved - how the hell she hadn't recognized Hayami Masumi's voice before this was a bloody mystery. Literally. Maya stared at him, drinking up a sight she'd only allowed herself from afar, and watched the frantic way his lips formed words with interest. The thought had barely wormed its way through her head when she realized she couldn't quite hear him properly - shock, she supposed - but she abandoned it and gave in to staring. He was as striking as ever - intent dark gaze, powerful aura, a carelessly ruthless face. He was pale with worry though as he would rip the door open at any moment to get to her. His hair was longer than she remembered, thick and straight and touching the tips of his shoulders. She was thinking that she probably looked like the worst sort of idiot but she couldn't have cared less. Hayami was in front of her, and maybe she was going to bear a knot the size of Mount Fiji in a few hours, but he was here and she was here and she was going to look her fill.

"Maya!" The world turned its volume back up. "Maya, roll down the window before I break the door to get you."

She cracked the window a little bit, wincing when her arm twinged a little bit, then rolled it down the rest of the way. He immediately reached for the lock and popped it open. She barely had time to blink and stare at his speed in awe before he'd yanked the door open and was pulling her out of the car and into his arms.

"Jesus," he breathed and the breath was welcome to her face, "Jesus, your head. We need to get to a hospital, Maya."

As if. She could have stayed in his arms a few more hours, hospital forgotten. Alas, he was looking more and more anxious with each passing moment in which she did not speak, so she decided to alleviate his worry.

"It's really alright." She felt the knot on her head carefully - she needed that ice soon! - and managed a smile for him. "I don't want to go to the hospital. Just aspirin and ice and I'll feel better."

"No, you should really-"

"I'm not going to the hospital," Maya repeated stubbornly.

She pulled herself into a sitting position

"I don't feel comfortable about-"

"And, luckily, you don't have to," she interrupted. "Now will you please help me up?"

He dallied a moment longer, clearly wanting to toss her into her backseat and careen towards the nearest medical institution, but his good senses must have won. Maya was grateful for that - she didn't want their first reunion after such a long time to end in a fight. Masumi helped her up and she tried not to let the sudden slap of vertigo show on her face. Otherwise, he would certainly be dragging her off to the hospital with or without her permission.

"I hope you don't think I will permit you to drive," he said sharply. "You get into my car while I park yours nearby. I'll drop you off wherever it is that you need to go."

He was slipping into the driver's seat of her car before she could blink. And then carefully reversing, turning, going - gone. He was gone. To wherever it was that he planned on parking the car. Maya thought that she would probably have to ask him to tell her where he'd parked, otherwise she'd never find it in Seiriten's massive underground parking complex. Which brought her to another train of thought...what was the Executive President and owner of Daitou Productions doing here? She didn't think that Seiri-san was on particularly good terms with Hayami, nor was she overly eager to enter into cahoots with him. So why would he be here? Though she was happy he was, she had to confess.

"Why are you still standing out here?"

He was a stormcloud in waiting. Scratch that, he was going to emit thunder and lightning - she could just tell by the way he was glaring her down. Without much of a regard for her personal space, he pulled her with him into the dark confines of the car. The dark confines of the car..._wait a minute, can we please turn a light on back here?_ Maya looked up for a switch, for a knob to hit, for anything that would literally shed some light on her situation. She was in the dark confines of Hayami Masumi's car (considered a fantasy come true, at any other point in time!) with a hand wrapped around her wrist, a growing knot on her head, and two best friends who were still waiting to see her in the near future.

And an uncomfortable silence that needed to be filled.

"So, where did you park the car?"

"Far left, B2." His hand tightened. Pulled. And now she was next to him. "Sit still. I want to feel this."

Maya made herself as still as she could, which was really quite still. She was at his disposal and her body had already decided to follow his command. Her eyes slipped shut, and she let his fingers probe the thing on her forehead, and breathed him in, and enjoyed his touch. To be so close to him after three full years of playing dumb and avoiding him at first opportunity? She was in heaven. Complete, unadulterated bliss. And now his fingers were drifting downwards, down and down and now he was cupping her cheek and she was breathing audibly and she felt as if the temperature in the car had just jumped upwards. His fingertips circling her cheeks, his breath fanning against her face as he continued to examine the bump...she had to do it. She had to open her eyes.

What she saw made her stop breathing. His face was as familiar and beloved as ever. The dark of night did nothing to blur her vision. His face was stern and serious, and Maya found herself marveling at the silver at his left temples, at the length of his hair, at the light worry lines above his eyes. She hadn't noticed it earlier but-

_He looks hagard. _

He looked terrible. As if he hadn't gotten enough sleep in the last week to fight off the dark circles that were hugging his eyes.

"Are you alright?"

His eyebrows shot up, then he released her and sank back into his seat.

"I'm perfectly fine. Why do you ask?"

"You look a little under the weather, Hayami." There was that arrogant arch of the eyebrow that she hadn't had the pleasure of seeing in a long time. Still, it didn't distract her from the fact that he needed rest. "But if you say that you're alright, then I'll believe you. Are you really 'perfectly fine'?"

Hayami's mask slipped for a moment and Maya's heart stopped. He wasn't just fatigued - he was anxious. No, that wasn't the correct word at all. He was desperate...or tortured...or something else. She stared. Too much emotion, too much intensity, not enough time. He turned away and addressed the window. A clear dismissal.

"I'm fine. Where do you need me to drop you off?"

Shaken, she automatically offered the address for Rei's workplace. And then proceeded to stare at him for the rest of the silent uncomfortable ride.


	3. Third Act

**Story - Love As Is  
Author - Yours Truly, my dear readers.  
Genre - Glass Mask, romance!  
Preface - Hayami Masumi & Kitajima Maya, star-crossed lovers? Perhaps. It's been three years since Tsukikage-sama cut herself off from the world, since Masumi married, since Maya re-entered the acting industry to perfect her craft. But things are changing, an old love blossoming, and no one can help Maya and Masumi but themselves. Will they...or won't they?  
Key - The triple x's represent a break in time. And the bold triple x's mean a change in perspective.  
Author's Notes: I've had so much great feedback and so I'm trying to go for regular bi-monthly updates - I also have a HP fanfic going that takes up quite a bit of time. Add in university work and you've got a very slow writer! I've adjusted the timeline quite a bit, and taken liberties with some of the characters. For my purposes, Masumi and Shiori married a few weeks after the weekend in Plum Valley. The present is thirteen long years after that...This is short but I'll have another one out under two weeks, scout's honor! Enjoy.**

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* * *

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Third Act

"Truth makes many appeals, not the least of which is its power to shock." - Jules Renard

_

* * *

_

"Reporting live from the Tokyo headquarters of Daitou's Production Company." Maya turned the volume of the television up and absentmindedly noted how bright the lips of the eager female reporter were. The backdrop displayed a building more familiar to Maya than the walls of her apartment. "The alleged divorce of business and theater mogul Hayami Masumi has taken most by surprise."

_Count me among them._

Three days after the terrible lovely confusing and awkward car ride with the object of her interest, Rei had left approximately twelve messages on her phone pleading with her to _'return this call as soon as possible_'. She'd been busy filming two of her day television soap operas and had missed all the calls. Another trick of fate had her dropping the phone and breaking it, ultimately, so she neither had any idea that Rei was trying to reach her or a way to say hello if she had. That Thursday Rei and Ayami had come by SeriTen to pick her up (unexpectedly, of course, since she still hadn't gotten around to telling her manager to get her a new cell) and break the news to her. Hayami Masumi was in the process of divorcing Miss Shiori, his wife of thirteen years. Ayumi's mother was close to Shirake Sango who was very good friends with Lady Kaori, Shiori's mother, who had just heard word about the break-up three days ago.

Long grapevine trimmed short, Ayumi had heard the word first through her mother and had apparently called Rei first. Then they'd deliberated on how best to break the news to her (all this Maya had deduced this on her own after piecing together separate stories from the two of them) before the multiple phone messages and the phone dropping and the pick up at SeiriTen. At Ayumi's place, with the two of them curled up on the bed around her, they'd broken the news while watching old Tezuka films. Then the two had waited hesitantly for Maya to react.

"They're getting a divorce." Ayumi had delivered the line with her usual clear-eyed bluntness. Rei had looked on appalled at the delivery but silent. "It happened this week."

Here's the thing - they needn't have worried so much about how to tell Maya because Maya hadn't known what to do when she heard the news. She was neither overcome by an earth-shattering joy nor bowed by grief. She just kind of...felt...nothing. Nothing. It was a nothingness because it was a complete absence of emotion. She'd sat there staring at her closest friends in the entire world and _blinked_ at the news of her beloved's imminent break-up. At first, Ayumi and Rei had taken it for the keenest sort of shock. Then they'd been surprised. Then they'd been worried.

"What's wrong with you?" Rei had asked her, touching her shoulder. "You just...nothing?"

She'd nodded her head.

"You mean 'yes, something's wrong with me' or 'yes, I feel nothing'?"

"Yes to the second," Maya had responded faintly.

"Perhaps, you're mistaking lack of feeling for shock."

That from Ayumi, who turned out to be quite right. Now, Maya was feeling the full force of agony and relief that came with every newsreel, every camera flash, every television report that trailed Masumi Hayami from his secluded home to the workplace and back again during this very public break-up with Shiori. The cameramen weren't exceptionally skilled at catching the man off-guard and he looked composed and even a little relaxed in every single shot. The haggard saddened Hayami that Maya had seen that night was incongruous next to this seemingly unapologetically relaxed tycoon. It was unacceptable. It was surreal. It was a further sign to Maya that she had never really known how to get past his safeguards - if she knew him, it was only because he let her.

"The media frenzy has started to die down since last week's breaking news," said the reporter, "and Masumi-san's tight-lipped stance on his marriage has furthered the die down."

The screen cut to a shot of Hayami stepping out of the front doors of Daitou, flanked by his Vice-President and a new secretary. Maya's heart constricted - ah, yes, that familiar feeling that indicated her emotion had returned - and she involuntarily flipped the channel.

"That's enough self-flagellation for one day." She sighed at the words better left unsaid. "Enough."

_Wait. _

The thought was right enough. Who was she kidding? Sure Maya had gotten through the weekend with nary an emotional outburst but come Tuesday afternoon? After a particularly hard rehearsal for her new role on stage, she'd barely driven home quickly enough to fall into bed with a heart much to heavy and a mind far too full. She was angry at nothing and sad because he was probably hurting and overwhelmed with an exhausting sense of relief. When had she first met Masumi? At Tsukikage-sensei's old manor out by the city park? But no, she hadn't known who he was at the time. Or could it be the introduction, that conversation she'd overheard between the beloved butler and even more beloved teacher about Daitou theaters? One by one, she went through as much as her mind would allow. The first time he'd called her Chibi-chan, the frequent taunting paired with laughter, the occasional angry word. Everything. As much of it as she could manage before she drifted off to a worried sleep.

_How can I be happy?_

She couldn't - not because of this. The loneliness of Masumi's back as he walked away from her thirteen years ago after her Crimson Angel collaborated with the strain on his face last week to make her feel even more depressed. She was a terrible person to feel even the slightest bit of relief. Utterly and irrevocably horrible. The relief, so far, had been remarkably short lived. Guilt over what a terrible person she was, how difficult this must be for him and the beautiful Lady Shiori, how slippery the world must feel after over a decade of making a home with someone. Even so-

The phone rang. Maya slowly pulled herself into a sitting position then made a valiant effort to reach for the handset and was met with success.

"Hello?"

"Are you _moping_?"

Well, heavens. If it wasn't the Princess herself.

"Good evening to you too, Ayumi," she said in as pleasant a voice as she could manage. "I've missed you dearly too. How was your week?"

"Don't you dare try and change the subject."

"I'm simply asking you how you're doing!"

"Maya," the voice on the phone scolded, "I can recognize an evasive maneuver when I see one. You haven't texted anyone in over a week - and all I have is Miss Know-It-All Rei for company. When are you coming out of hiding?"

Against her wishes, Maya found herself laughing. There was nothing like bluntness to force a soul to feel better. When she could get her breath back, she finally responded.

"Filming has been busy-"

"Stop it."

She stopped. There was no stopping Ayumi (no play on words intended) when she insisted that someone spill the beans. It was going to be virtually impossible to have a conversation with the girl in the next week if she didn't first get the topic of Hayami out of the way. Still, she was loathe to bare her heart to her best friends. How could she, when she wasn't entirely sure how she was feeling?

"I'm not sure what you want me to say."

"How about the truth?"

"And if I don't know what that is, exactly?" Maya countered evenly. "I honestly felt nothing a week ago. Now I don't know _how_ to sort it out."

"Good."

Maya crinkled her brow. "Good?"

"It's better than the 'nothing' you were wallowing in five days ago. I don't know when we'll all be free enough to see each other again but I'm hoping that we can all sneak out to lunch next Wednesday."

"Uh...good...then?" She was beyond confused at the turn this conversation was taking. "And yes to lunch if we can wrangle it?"

"Good! Do try and sleep well - I better not hear about you doing anything drastic in the next few weeks."

"Define drastic," Maya quipped. "Actually, don't. Then I'll be able to do whatever I like. Goodnight, Ayumi."

A similar response from the girl on the other end left her staring blankly into space. She could sit here and lie to herself and pretend that the shock would dissipate in the next few days but the truth was that Maya knew herself too well for that. She was, fundamentally, a passionate person. Her passion had always fueled her determination but passion also meant that when she was high she was high...and when she was low, she was very much so. She doubted she would be able to think of anything else but him in her free time. Her only saving grace was that she no longer worked in Daitou, and therefore, had no opportunity to completely humiliate herself in front of the object of her interest. Thank heavens for small mercies. Although...

_Although at least I'd have to face him head on._

The thought was unwelcome, so she brushed it aside. She had more than enough ammunition against herself with the recorded television commentaries. She really should stop. She really should. And she would...just not anytime soon. With a sigh, she stood and turned off the television and headed through the kitchen, turning off all the lights as she went. Normally, her cozy apartment fulfilled her needs. Now the silence was deafening. Maya had a burgeoning career, two friends who were like sisters, and as many as fans as stars in the Tokyo night sky. She wanted for nothing.

When she reached the door of her bedroom, she pushed it open a little ways but turned to look over her shoulders. The hallway was quiet and a little moonlight from the faraway kitchen window filtered in white stripes against the dark of the carpet. Something about the stark contrast caused her eyes to fill. Maya turned her back on the view and reminded herself that she was blessed and that she wanted for nothing.

Nothing at all.

**xXx**

"I'm starting to think that you enjoy nagging me incessantly." Masumi sighed into his cup of coffee then glared over the rim at his best friend. "I don't suppose you have any work that needs to be done?"

"Why, Masumi, I don't believe you are happy enough to make jokes." Masumi found himself glaring even harder at Hijiri Karato. If he could be bothered enough to put his morning cuppa down, he would make for the man's throat and wring it for good measure. Sadly, his best friend wasn't at all finished. "I came around to make sure you didn't drown yourself in your cups but you have the situation well in hand. Now, I'm just here to make sure you take it easy."

Masumi snorted but didn't take the bait.

"You do realize that I could get to work much faster if you weren't mollycoddling me?"

The mollycoddler blinked (and even this blink was a personal affront to Masumi) before slipping into another rare smile. This time the blond was the one to ignore the bait.

Masumi had been cooped up with his childhood friend for the last three days - something he had certainly _not_ anticipated when he'd done the right thing by letting Karato in on his impending divorce. Knowing that the right thing would be to let his closest friend in the world know first, Masumi had telephoned Karato as soon as he'd walked through the doors of his house last Friday evening. The encounter with Maya had shaken him to his very core though they couldn't have exchanged more than a few sentences. Being in her presence had been agonizing - it always was, and this time was worse than years past. That dreadful bump on her head, her hair longer than he'd remembered, her usual stubbornness. Too familiar, far too dear, and too damned close in the confines of the car. Just being in the same vehicle had made him uncomfortable beyond belief.

When she'd frankly inquired after his well-being, he'd wanted nothing more than to toss himself off a high building. It seems Maya had never lost the knack for reading him at the times he least needed her to do so. And Masumi could only wince as he remembered his response.

_I'm an idiot._

Yes, well...one would think his divorce would have proved that by now.

"So when will I be rid of you this evening?"

His friend offered a faint smile before pouring himself more coffee.

"When you're this pleasant to be around, I just can't bear the thought of leaving you."

Karato's particular brand of sarcasm was making so many daily appearances that Masumi knew he was deriving some twisted enjoyment from yanking his chain. This time he forewent the glaring and went straight to sighing. Little did his best mate know how happy he looked...the man was usually so the quiet and serious (he swore, even when they'd been little kids, the guy had been unable to enjoy himself) that the smallest change in character was readily apparent. These days, he was training a new protege to take up his spying work for Daitou. And less work was suiting him just fine, as far as Masumi could see. He was starting to suspect that something else was involved. So, of course, he leaned back in his chair and went fishing for information directly.

"Tell me about her."

Karato nearly dropped his mug as his head snapped up. Masumi smiled to himself and waited.

"Excuse me?"

"I assume it's a her and not a him? Although I really don't care about the gender of whomever makes you happy."

Silence reigned. Karato stared. Masumi fought a grin and waited for speech.

"...how did you know?"

_Besides your very obvious displays of surprise and guilt?_ Let no one accuse Masumi of being unable to bite his tongue at the appropriate time. He leaned forwards to set the coffee pot to rights, then stood to get a rag from the kitchen sink. Over his shoulder, he shot the guilty-looking party a grin.

"It was a guess, actually." Karato's arched eyebrow said he didn't believe that for a moment. He returned to the table and began to mop up the mess. After a moment, the blond snatched the rag from him and took over the act of cleaning. Masumi resumed his seat and gazed at him. "Really, I was fishing and you took the bait - hook, line and sinker."

"Sorry about the mess."

"No problem. Now tell me."

Karato finished wiping in silence, then cleared the table of their mugs and the coffeepot. Masumi went from smiling to frowning in the space of a few moments. Was his best friend really going to remain mute? Masumi examined his face when he sat down again, then leaned forward to stare. The blond looked even more guilty than he had at the start. What on earth did he have to be guilty about? After another few moments of awkward silence, it hit him. Karato didn't want to tell him anything about his love interest when Masumi's own life was falling apart. He knew he'd have to handle the situation carefully.

"Although I despise all visible and audible displays of feelings, I will say this. You are the closest thing I've ever had to a brother, and my best friend in the world barring Shiori." Karato watched him as he let the familiar wave of pain wash over him with nary a blink before continuing on. "This means that whatever makes you happy will make me happy. I would _never_ begrudge you a moment's happiness, and even in the midst of all...of this...I only want the best for you. Not even a ruined marriage will change that. So, before I lose consciousness over this emotional outburst, _please_ tell me about her. Or him. Or whomever this person is."

Karato stared. Then smirked. Then descended into a low choking sound that was closer to wheezing than laughing.

_Which_, Masumi supposed with a mental sigh, _is better than silent guilt._

"Are you quite finished yet?"

"I am tempted to make you more comfortable by reaching across the table to pat your head."

"Do it and I'll snap your hand off," growled Masumi. "In fact, I'm tempted to break your arm regardless. Are you _done_?"

"We aren't dating," said Karato with a sudden change in topic, "and she doesn't know that I care about her in that manner. I suspect that it will take me a long while to do anything about it."

"Where did you meet her?"

"Do you know that we can't recall?" His best friend's face suddenly filled with an unfamiliar look that was such an even mix of irritation and affection that Masumi found himself momentarily thinking it was directed at him. When Karato's gaze drifted to the view outside the window, he realized his mistake. "You know that I like to take the bus to work on Mondays and Fridays, correct? She's usually on it. The first time I remember speaking to her was after I gave up my seat for her. She says I helped her up after a young boy knocked her down - that came _after_ I gave up my seat."

A true smile lit up his face. Masumi smiled back.

"Are you purposely not telling me her name?" A look said as much. "I promise I won't investigate her."

"Sawatari Mina."

He'd promised that _he_ wouldn't investigate her but he'd never promised that he wouldn't get someone else to do so. Was it a coincidence that her name sounded the slightest bit familiar? Masumi's mind was already racing back and forth to figure out why her name rang a bell. If Karato hadn't been so starry-eyed, he would have immediately picked up on the omission and offered no name. Masumi thanked heavens for small favors and hurried the conversation along.

"How long have you known her?"

"Almost a month."

"Anything outside of the bus?"

"Coffee and lunch dates, though I couldn't tell you where she works or what she does for a living." His best mate offered him a rueful smile. "I could tell you all about her quirks and her imagination and her dreams though, if that counts for anything."

A comfortable silence settled around them, in which Masumi found himself marveling at the capriciousness of Fate. He missed Shiori the way he missed his mother - she was a gaping hole in his life that he badly wanted to fill. He couldn't seem to build up enough courage to go into her personal study, or to wander into the west wing of the house that had been her domain. A discreet moving company had showed up Monday morning to pack, box, and ship all her things to her new address. It didn't matter - there were relics of Shiori everywhere he turned. He swore he could still smell the scent of her floral perfume. He'd found a little notebook in which she'd written up some housework to-do lists - innocous notes for the butler for cleaning supplies and such. Her bottle of shampoo was still perched on his bathroom counter, and when he'd wandered downstairs yesterday to look through the laundry, he'd found the pretty blue dress she'd worn to that executive's dinner three weeks ago. Whenever he found something, he carefully placed it in a box meant to be sent to her in a few days.

He wanted to hold on to it the little while longer.

Aware that this was a morbid train of thoughts, Masumi consciously turned his mind to wonder how he would manage to get from the mansion with Karato, who was still little known at Daitou, to headquarters. Security knew him on sight - but none of the staff had wised up to the fact that He had another meeting with Saeko Mizuki, who would only take the opportunity to psychoanalyze him to the highest extent. He appreciated the handful friends that he had - truly, he did - but between fending off Karato's humor and avoiding Saeko's pointed critique of the failure that his life currently amounted to, Masumi was waiting for the end of the day to come. Figure that, when it wasn't even 10 o'clock in the morning yet!

"We should go," murmured Karato with a reluctant sigh. "Otherwise, we'll have to add 'tardy' to the list of things Saeko-san will quietly upbraid us for."

"Of course." Masumi stood and stretched. He'd have more time to wallow in a healthy serving of self-pity later. "Of course, let's go."


	4. Fourth Act

**Story - Love As Is  
Author - Yours Truly, my dear readers.  
Genre - Glass Mask, romance!  
Preface - Hayami Masumi & Kitajima Maya, star-crossed lovers? Perhaps. It's been thirteen years since Tsukikage-sama cut herself off from the world, since Masumi married, since Maya re-entered the acting industry to perfect her craft. But things are changing, an old love blossoming, and no one can help Maya and Masumi but themselves. Will they...or won't they?  
Key - The triple x's represent a break in time. And the bold triple x's mean a change in perspective.  
Author's Notes: Some MxM action - and no, not the lemon kind! Clarification it has been FOUR years since the end of the anime. I am responsible for all the confusion since three and thirteen apparently mixed up all throughout the previous chapters. His marriage to Shiori lasted _three_ years, because I do not follow anything after chapter 40 of the manga. In fact, I'm assuming Maya was about sixteen/seventeen during the Plum Valley encounter and I assume that Masumi and Shiori are married a year afterwards for purposes of my story.  
Summing it up - Maya is now aged twenty-one and Masumi is aged thirty-three. It has been three years. Never fear, I will go back and clean up the last three chapters to make sure future readers are not confused. Public Service Announcement complete! With that cleared up, please do enjoy.**

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Fourth Act

"The beauty of the world has two edges - one of laughter, one of anguish, cutting the heart asunder." - Virginia Wo'olf

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"Don't you dare tell me-"

"Again," interrupted Director , glancing between Maya and the script. "The tone was very close but it needs more chill. She is careless and cold - her anger won't burn, Maya. It will _freeze_!"

_I dare say I heard you the first few times_, Maya thought then blinked at the sheer snarkiness of the thought. It was nearing the end of the working day and she should have been wrapping up this one-on-one monologue run through by now. Instead, she felt unfocused and unsettled - her failure to verbally capture Saeki Saya was the culmination of another messy week. It had begun Monday morning after another talk forced upon her by Ayumi, followed by the gentle prodding that Rei relied upon. A lovely little double attack from the two of them had been the last thing she needed the next night. She was _fine_, darn it, just fine and what she wanted was to leave the topic of that man and his divorce and the way she _felt_ about it and if they couldn't understand it, she'd finally said, then she would be forced to stop talking altogether. Usually, the threat would have been enough to silence her two best friends - and it was. What it couldn't squash was her grief, guilt and relief. What it couldn't kill was her drawn-out wallowing. What it didn't improve was her mood, and as a result, her performance was suffering.

"Again."

Maya took a deep breath and thought about the young woman she was attempting to bring to life. Cold, careless, cruel just for the sake of it. But why? Saeki Saya had parents who doted and a school full of boys and girls that both lauded her and praised the very ground she walked on. She had friends when she wanted but only if she wanted them - she preferred to manipulate everyone around her in a way that was as frightening as it was careless. Most of the people around her never realized that she was the source of their troubles, which of course, made her as untouchable as a queen on a sure throne. She could care less about them and more about the end-product of her. To be thwarted by some goody two-shoes angered her but not in the way that it would anger someone who _cared_. It was cold because- Ah. Then the why of it then-

_Because she can. Because it's a game and they are the toys and she - I - can do whatever I like._

"Maya?"

"Yes, sir," she said with the first smile of the day. "Please let me run it one more time. Can I try something different? You stand here-" she indicated a spot in the middle of the empty practice room - "and I will approach from the side."

The director arched his eyebrows, indicating not so much surprise but appraisal, but did as he was asked. Maya took a deep breath and thought about the kind of indifference that can maim, then closed her eyes to better put on her mask. She was now disappearing into the void, all the things that made her into the young woman she was, and retreated to let a new person wash in.

"Don't you dare to tell me such nonsense," she drawled, walking slowly towards the director. He blinked as if the weight of her regard and the laziness of her voice was off-putting. "As if he cares one whit for you...you, with no family to call your own? No one to take up for you in times of need? I want you to think carefully about your situation, dear friend, as you know I always have your best interests at heart. "

The director found himself blinking and leaning backwards again, caught in the lethal fluidity of the way she now moved. This wasn't Maya - this was Saya in all her indifferent menacing glory. The look she pinned him with was both amused and contemptuous - he felt his insides respond to a sudden need to curl up and wither away. He wondered how brown eyes so warm and worried before could look darken to the coldness of a starless wintry night. No wonder this woman was wanted all over the nation for everything from historical soap operas to modern-day dramas. She was the real thing.

"You have always been alone, Yukiko-chan." He found himself frozen to the spot, gazing at the fingers that reached out to graze the side of neck. She was smiling at him benigngly - of course, the words she said belied the outcome but her smile was so kind that he couldn't have responded with the right lines had he been capable. "You might always be alone as well. Always. Why would that change for you now? Think about your situation. You will never be loved and you simply have to accept it. Don't you agree?"

Suddenly, his lead actress stepped back with a worried look. The spell was broken.

"Was that satisfactory?"

"That was exactly what I've been looking for." He arched an eyebrow. "What made sense for you?"

"She wouldn't be a tempest - she would be an ice storm," Maya said with a thoughtful look on her face. "She is angry but only because manipulating those around her is a game and the game has gone off-track. She isn't vain in the sense that Yukiko's interference is a personal affront. No. Yuki-chan is simply an obstacle presenting delay and Saya will still win in the end. She _knows_ this so she will take her time cutting the other girl down to size."

"Good work," the director said with a satisfied look on his face, "and you are done for the day."

_Thank God._

She bowed twice as he left the room, thanking him for releasing her and for the hard work. When the door closed behind her, she sat down on the floor gracelessly then lay perfectly still against the cold of the hardwood floor. The cold slipped past her clothes and settled atop her skin like another layer around her. The cold made things clear, too. Maya knew she had to do something to work herself out of the funk that she'd fallen into. Her moodiness was reaching epic proportions. Understanding Saya in this scene had been a blessing, and it told her that she was finally on her way to getting back into shape. That was good, of course, and she was confident that she could work out the rest of the character in subsequent scenes before the official practices for 'Homeroom' began.

"Perhaps I need to talk about it aloud to work my way through it," she said to her non-existant audience. "Perhaps what I need to do is work out for myself why I feel this way. I mean, there's nothing between us. There has been nothing between us for the last three years since I left Daitou and he chose Shiori. So what if we met up four weeks ago? That was an entirely unplanned event. A-and not just unplanned...unpleasant! He wasn't at all pleased or unpleased to see me - I certainly can't mean that much to him. In fact, I asked a question and he nearly took my head off with the look on his face. And he didn't even respond truthfully. It was an accident and a- um...an aberation. I need to let this go - it's not even as if I see him!"

_Even though I want to._

She bit her lip against the thought but...if she were going to be truthful with herself and work out her feelings then she needed to say it.

"Even if I want to. Even though I really want to. Truthfully, I would love to be able to see him more often but then I'd have to face him. I'm not ready for that, am I? And more to the point, he does not want to see me. Whatever came between him and Shiori is his own business and I have no business digging into his life and upsetting it. Whatever it is that he felt for me before is gone and I...I have to understand that. That this play is funded by Daitou is a coincidence - it doesn't mean anything. What I have to do is- drop it. I need to drop it so that I can pull myself together and go on with my life and live a life I find worthy. I have all that I need at the moment, and while it would be absolutely lovely to have him as well, that isn't the reality."

She sighed at voicing her deepest fears. Things she couldn't find herself saying to either Rei or Ayumi, things she couldn't face in herself before - all of it true and all of it as heavy as if she'd never said them. But the heaviness was tempered by the relief that came with admitting the truth. Maya looked at the ceiling then let her eyes stray to the window. The sun was setting already. The entire roomw as washed in soft oranges and pinks - it was so pretty that she found herself marveling at the vividness of the colors for a moment. When she stopped marveling, she pushed herself to her feet and slipped the script into her bag.

One more stop before she headed out to her little car to drive home.

Maya let herself out of the ante room and made her way up the stairs that would lead to the stage wings. Zaizen Theater was old but grand, real dark red velvet trimmed in an unusual gold for the grand curtains (she had touched them the first time the director had brought her here to see the place) and dark red seats that spoke more of practicality than comfort. The night security guards hadn't arrived to shut the stage lights off and lock the place. The contrasts of the place never failed to amuse and fascinate her, but what she wanted more right now was to stand in the middle of the had been three years already.

She closed her eyes and reached back to her monologue as Saya.

_Oh, to be fundamentally uncaring, _Maya thought wistfully before unconsciously slipping into the lines that she'd practiced less than an hour ago.

"Don't you dare to tell me such - as if he cares one whit for you...you, with no family to call your own? No one to take up for you in times of need?" A lazy smile to pair with unfocused eyes, the same contemptuous drawl as before. "I want you to think carefully about your situation, dear friend, as you know I always have your best interests at heart. You have always been alone, Yukiko-chan. You might always be alone. Always. Why would that change for you now? Think about your situation. You will never be loved and you simply have to accept it. Don't you agree, dear friend?"

Her smile turned into a secret to be shared between she and Yuki-chan and she spread her arms wide as if offering a hug.

"Now, Yuki-chan, darling, why don't you be a good-"

"Your habits haven't changed much." Maya might have tripped over her own feet and fell had she not grabbed unto the stage curtain, that startled was she by the voice that seemed to come out of nowhere. She spun around to face the audience area, looking for whomever was speaking. No matter, he wasn't done yet. "I suppose you still practice after hours, still spend a little time after rehearsal to perfect the mask."

She knew that voice. Holy Father in heaven, she knew that voice.

**xXx**

"Popularity has done you well, Chibi-chan." Hayami ambled down the middle aisle, effectively stunning her into silence. He did so love it when he managed to surprise and the look on her face was worth the hour of anguished indecision he had experienced before driving to the Zaizen. Director Sakaki had kindly informed him that Maya had requested that they run through lines in the two weeks before they were due to begin official rehearsals with the rest of the cast. At first Masumi had dithered about in the office, wondering why on earth Sakaki had dropped that little tidbit. Then he'd dithered about trying to figure out why he was dwelling on aforementioned tidbit. Then he'd dithered about in getting the keys to his car, fingering the metal and flipping the bunch unnecessarily before he finally stopped dithering.

He was going to see her this evening - he understood that much about himself.

The thirty-minute drive to the theater through light traffic wasn't long enough. He managed to accomplish several things - to raise guilt over this easy caving in to his desire to see her, to create anxiety over how she would receive him after that terribly stiff cardrive nearly four weeks ago, to raise his blood pressure between worrying about the two. By the time he pulled into the nearly empty parking lot, he'd wrestled both the guilt and anxiety down. He just wanted to see her.

He wanted to see her more than anything else at the moment.

So, he'd ducked into the building without sparing either the setting sun or the janitorial crew cleaning the lobby. Masumi had walked past all that to the one place he'd thought she'd be. The stage. Of course.

"But even so, it is good to see you still keep some things the same."

She looked as low-key and pretty as ever. She looked a little thinner than she had last time he'd seen her, but that couldn't be true. Long straight hair as inky black as night, caught up into a bun that looked as if it would up and fall apart at any moment. A too-big dark grey and black plaid button down was wide open to reveal a white tank top underneath, faded form-fitting jeans that were wearing down at the knees, ragged sneakers...of course, Maya _still_ didn't dress as if she could buy approximately half of the shares in his company and still rent a penthouse at Hotel Seiyo Ginzo for three years. And now she was standing there staring at him as if she'd seen a ghost. She was silent. And she managed to look both suspicious and alarmed.

"What are you doing here?"

Funny, he hadn't really thought about how he would explain his way out of being here coincidentally.

"I came to see you."

_Okay_, he breathed while just managing to bite back a grimace. _That had **not** been the plan._ Now he was reduced to telling the truth?

"Oh." She looked completely shocked. "I see."

He let himself swallow her whole with his eyes, drinking in every single bit of the young woman that he hadn't seen this close in years. That little expedition in the car hadn't counted - he hadn't been able to see her with Shiori's back still looming in his mind. But here...here...while she was standing in the bright lights and he in the dim dark, he could get as much of her as possible without coming off as a complete lunatic. Thirteen years had filled her out, of course, but she looked enough the same. His chest tightened and he shoved his hands into his trouser pockets.

"How long were you watching for?"

"I came in write after the 'I want you to think carefully' part of the monologue," he said with a faint smile, "and waited to see if you would notice me. As usual, you didn't."

She arched an eyebrow, looking like the fire was coming back. Luckily, a small smile was edging away the shock.

"And, as usual, you interrupted me in the middle of work."

Before Masumi had realized it, he was smiling fully. When he did realize it, he thought about stopping but perished the thought. She was here and she wasn't booting him out yet and he would do his best to keep it this way. Though...he really had no idea what he had meant to do now that he was here, and how he was going to proceed.

"So." Maya was walking to the edge of the stage and dropping down, then she was on the ground with that obnoxiously pink knapsack at her side, and suddenly she was standing in front of him with her hands at her side and her face upturned. She looked at him carefully - ah, yes, the inspection.

"Last time I asked you how you were feeling and you gave me a roundabout answer." Masumi stared at her, startled. Maya gazed back with something akin to concern. "If I asked you the same question now, would you evade it again?"

_Bloody hell. _He'd forgotten how quickly this girl cut through his defenses. This close, he probably couldn't lie.

"No," he said honestly.

Her eyes softened fractionally and she rocked back on her toes.

"Then how are you?"

He thought about it.

"Better today than I have been in a long time." She looked like she was chewing that one over and Masumi worried that he might have said too much or given something important away in addition to the truth, so he distracted her. "But how have you been?"

"Better today than I have been in a long time," she quoted back at him with a tiny smile. He smiled back. For what probably lasted a minute but felt like a tiny slice of eternity, he stared at her. Every new line, every surprise curve, even the single strand of silver that he could see at her temple - all the new details that he hadn't been able to absorb when she had stood on stage were completely committed to memory before he quickly moved on to another feature. She broke the spell when she looked away, then moved a little off to his right and began to walk up the aisle to the exit doorways. "So why did you want to see me? I suspect it's about the play."

"Ah, of course." _Not of course, not at all._ "Sakaki had mentioned that you would be doing biweekly runthroughs with him over the script and I had hoped to catch you in the middle of a scene."

No such thing. He couldn't believe his brain's sudden shift from 'tell the truth' to 'lie through your teeth' as he followed her out into the lobby. Sometimes, he wasn't sure what motivated him to do these things. And, damn her, Maya took those words at face-value with a frown.

"Of course," she said. Was she in character right now or had her voice suddenly dropped a few degrees? He couldn't tell with her back to him. "Rest assured that I will not embarass myself or any of the benefactors, and I will more than do this role justice."

He couldn't open his mouth to say a damned thing. Which was a mistake since she spun around at the theater door, hands on hips, looking both calm and cool. Chibi-chan was no longer an 'up-and-at-'em' fighter - she was starting to remind him a little bit of Ayumi. The look on her face told him that he had just fucked up in a very major way.

"Well? Are you satisfied or will I have to swear it in blood?" Her miniature snarl had him arching an eyebrow. "Do you have _anything_ at all to add to this conversation or am I free to go?"

"What I meant to say was that I have every confidence that you will perform this play admirably," he said softly. He tried not to raise his shoulders in a placating way, aware that he was already on thin ice. "You are one of the best actresses in the country and one of the most discerning ones as well - this role will probably be a fun challenge for you. I didn't come here because I was worried."

She looked shocked for the second time that evening.

"Then why _did_ you come here?"

He didn't know. He hadn't really meant to. Oh, he had but he just hadn't known how _much_ he'd really meant to. So he told the barest bit of the truth.

"Simply because I haven't seen you perform in person for a very long time. It's no secret that I admire your talent."

A lovely shade of pink was tinging her ears and now she was smiling fully. God, he'd missed that smile.

"We always start practice at 3 o'clock on Thursday evenings," she said. "If you'd like to see, then you should come by earlier."

He smiled back and was rewarded when her smile morphed into a pleased grin, but she pushed her back against the door and . He pushed the door open, walked down the steps and called out to get her attention. She looked over her shoulder, as she kept making her way to that gaudy little car she loved so much to drive.

"I will," he called.

She waved without looking back. Masumi stood on the bottom step and watched her pull out of the parking lot with a smile. A wave or an acknowledgement...either way, it had been a start.

**xXx**

So much for forgetting Hayami Masumi. Thanks to his appearing act yesterday, Maya had now moved from anxious despair to anxious excitement. She was in idiot, she was a fool, she was headstrong and looking for trouble. Of course, he could have simply asked the director for a more specific timeframe within which to visit and watch them practice so why on _earth_ had she gone ahead and offered it up to him like a sacrifice on a silver platter? Just because he had driven out of his way to find her practicing in Zaizen? Surely, Maya could not be bought so simply.

_Except apparently I can._ She was worried and anxious and just plain flattered that he'd found a way to compliment her acting and her hard-work at the same time. No one could have understood it better than those who had watched her in the early days. Still, she should have put up a little bit more of a fight while railing at him mistakenly. That way she might have worked herself up into a nice tizzy before he set her down gently with praise. _Oh, heavens._

She flipped through the magazine that Megumi had brought her on lunch break at the set for _Hotelier_. Her gaze couldn't settle on the article about makeup ('A Clean Crisp Daytime Look for the Working Lady') or the one about relationships ('Is He Still In To You? Ten Tell-Tale Signs') but she let the colors and the pictures absorb her for a few moments. She was going to be due back for touch-ups on her makeup at any given moment, she was supposed to have called Rei a few minutes ago, and she was wishing she had a nice cup of cold water at this moment to bring her off this unnatural high.

"Maya?"

She looked up to see a fellow cast member, Toudou Kenji, striding towards her with a newspaper in one hand and a bottle of cold juice in the other. He held out the can and, after a moment's hesitation, Maya grinned and took the can from him.

"Thank you very much, Toudou-san." She cracked the can and took a sip. "You are very kind - and you must also be a mind-reader."

"You looked bored, worried, and thirsty," he said with a wink, "and you have room enough on this bench for two. I simply thought I'd weasel my way into sharing the seat so I could read the paper."

"Mission successful then," she joked. "You're welcome to share anytime."

Toudou-san arched an eyebrow in such an obviously lecherous way that Maya found herself laughing. He joined her soon after.

"That's more like it - less worry, more fun!"

He startled her right out of her laughter but before she could respond-

"Maya, we need you in make-up!"

"Well, thank you for the juice," she said with a small bow, "and the laughter. Both were quite nice to have."

"No problem."

Maya was baffled but amused when he turned back to his paper, whipping it to straighten it before he seemed to sink his teeth right into an article. She carried her drink and walked slowly down the hallway to sit through a short fifteen-minute reapplication of the little she had on. Interesting that Toudou had picked up on her mood from across the room - how on earth had she survived on earth this long when she was still so obvious in all her feelings? Hopefully, Masumi hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary yesterday. Hopefully, she had managed to come off as completely careless and carefree. Hopefully, her heart wasn't so terribly visible on her sleeve.

Maya fully intended to ignore him - perhaps, 'ignore' was too strong a word - the next time they met. She needed to know that she had a backbone where he was concerned, and that she could be both professional and friendly but distant in the next few weeks. Official rehearsals would be beginning in the next month and although Masumi, in recent years, had become more elusive than ever he would definitely take her up on her offer. After all, he was nothing if not a shrewd business man and discerning viewer of all things theater. Maya would just have to ignore him...

_The thing is,_ she thought to herself as she flipped open her cell to respond to a good-morning text from Rei, _that now he's thrown a monkey-wrench in my plans. He probably will come to practice, which will make it harder for Plan Forget-About-Him to get underway._

For a full minute, Maya debated whether or not she would benefit by telling Rei anything about this new development. She'd struggled with the question last night as well, getting home and hugging the encounter to her like a delicious little secret that she had every intention of keeping. It was completely juvenile...hopelessly stupid and probably a little bit presumptuous. There was absolutely no reason for her to tell anyone so in the end the secret was kept. Instead, she asked after Ayumi's phantom date (God only knew whether they'd hit it off) for distraction. Ayumi couldn't loosen up in front of people that she didn't know very well to save her life. To observe her mingling in a crowd was to observe her putting on a kind of mask - she was perfectly polite, modest, subservient and extremely nice, which is exactly what Ayumi _wasn't_ when she was around family and good friends. She had grown up like royalty in her household...translation she was opinionated, assertive, a tad bit vain and not above sarcasm. She would cut a date down to the quick at the end of the night, leaving him wondering where the sweet-voiced Ayumi had gone and why she'd left a harpy in her place.

If there was anything that would shock the dickens out of Maya, it was this - a man who managed to amuse and to ease and to charm the pants off of Ayumi (well, not literally...okay, perhaps, literally). _What she needs,_ the brunette thought to herself, _is the shock factor. He needs to keep her on her toes, as well as never take no for an answer._

Rei was quick to respond with what Maya had half expected - the man in question had been rebuffed. 'At least she was polite this time' read the text - that could mean anything from Ayumi had sent him off with a smile in silence to her having simply left the car when he'd pulled up to her residence, without waiting for him to say a single thing. She sent a sad face in response, right before the 'I _told_ her not to do anything rash!'.

What she needed was more fun. _More fun...more-_

Maya had the news flash of a lifetime in between angling her head back for more eyeshadow and holding the phone as she waited for her best friend's response - what more could one ask for but a pet project that would both distract her from Masumi and get Ayumi the love experience she was in dire need of...

Maya was going to gang up with Rei to get Ayumi hooked up - by hook or by crook, the Princess was going to find herself with Toudou Kenji.


	5. Fifth Act

**Story - Love As Is  
Author - Yours Truly, my dear readers.  
Genre - Glass Mask, romance!  
Preface - Ha****yami Masumi & Kitajima Maya, star-crossed lovers? Perhaps. It's been three years since Tsukikage-sama cut herself off from the world, since Masumi married, since Maya re-entered the acting industry to perfect her craft. But things are changing, an old love blossoming, and no one can help Maya and Masumi but themselves. Will they...or won't they?  
****Key - The triple x's represent a break in time. And the bold triple x's mean a change in perspective.  
****Author's Notes: I apologize - I went on hiatus with this story for a little bit as I was struggling with both classes and two family deaths. I'm back, with a bit of writer's block, but I'm back all the same. I've never abandoned a story and I never will! This chapter is not my best - I'll admit it doesn't flow correctly, but no amount of self-editing appears to fix it. I'm sorry, it'll be better next time! Enjoy.**

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Fifth Act

Multi-tasking arises out of distraction itself. ~Marilyn Vos Savant

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"Please explain to me why I need to meet you there." Ayumi's voice was the very embodiment of exasperation. "And why you don't understand the meaning of the word 'no'."

"Princess," Maya teased, "I get that it is super difficult for Your Highness to take time out of her prescheduled day for one of her best friends in the entire world, but let me just tell You, Your Highness, that it will be worth it regardless. Besides, could you please pretend to be happy since the holidays are well on their way?"

"Oh, shut up with that silly nickname. And what holiday could you possibly be thinking of? Besides, I would be an imbecile not to see you're trying to set me up for something."

"Me?"

"No," the other girl fairly snarled, "your cousin Eriko - _yes_, you."

"Why ever would you think that?"

"Because I know you," Ayumi said shrewdly, "and more importantly, I know how you and Rei function _together_ so don't make any sort of excuses or fob me off with any lies. You planned this in advance - how silly of me, since I've just now figured out.

"What, we can't ask you out to lunch as friends who love you and want to see you?"

The innocent question didn't go over well.

"Who is it?"

"No one you might know personally."

There was a beat of silence.

"Maya, I know very many people impersonally."

Poor unsuspecting Ayumi.

Getting the Princess into a good mood was no easy feat, and Maya didn't think she was doing a very good job, but she and Rei had decided that trickery was the best way to get this blind date jig going. Which is why Maya and Rei were _not _actually luring their best friend into a blind date - what they were doing was leading the snooty brunette on in the hopes that she would completely disbelieve them when they _did _set up the date. Maya had pretty much thought of it all on her own, especially since she would still have to convince Toudou-san (a confirmed bachelor, really) to go along with it. Yeah, maybe this was a roundabout way to get Ayumi to relax, breathe and smell the roses, but it was one of the only ideas they'd had between the two of them so far.

And it would be successful, Maya just knew it.

"How close are you?"

"I'm standing at the entrance. And are you seriously side-stepping this question? Because I'm not in any mood to deal with someone!"

Maya turned to see the young woman herself marching towards her in full-blown angry stride. She'd clearly hung up the phone, since she was this close and give the brunette a pieced of her irritated mind. Maya could see the girl working herself into a tirade that might last all through-out lunch, and this was usually where Maya cut her off. It was usually best to distract Ayumi (even though that was rarely possible) before she entered full-blown irritation mode.

"Ayumi, you're awfully worked up this afternoon," Maya said sweetly. "Aren't you supposed to be the logical level-headed one? And the one who keeps her cool all the time? Jeez, you're way too suspicious to have such good friends who are trying to take care of you. It's just lunch."

"Just lunch? What, with a sideserving of secrecy and an extra order of lies?"

"Oh, are the cameras still rolling?" Maya rolled her eyes and craned her neck around to look for Rei, who should have been returning from the ladies' room any minute now. "That was dramatic enough to earn itself a place in a drama."

"My last nerve, Maya!"

That was a new octave, if Maya had ever heard one. That was also a decidedly hostile tilt to the blonde head. Honestly, if Ayumi had _meant_ to strike fear into the hearts of men and women in the restaurant, she couldn't have made a more intense expression. As it was, the waiter who had been coming to help Maya back to her seat faltered in his steps. Maya watched with interest as he righted himself at the last moment and managed to paste a smile back on to his face. If she hadn't been watching him the entire time, she might have thought she'd imagined the whole thing.

Unfortunately, Ayumi was not finished.

"My last nerve," she repeated. "You are getting on it."

Maya smiled and pulled the girl into a hug.

"Good." She pulled back to loop arms with the unwilling. "Because this is payback for last week."

"Last week? What happened last-" Another glare. "Oh come on, he was a bore! A complete bore. Even _Rei_ said so herself that she'd only thrown us together to make me appreciate the next one."

Another clever idea brought to light by Rei. The girl was a match-making genius, really - Maya adored the stage she walked on. There was no way that Ayumi wasn't going to be the least bit impressed by her next date if the last one had been the worst situation she'd claimed to have ever walked into in her life.

_Which, _thought Maya as she eyed the blonde she was dragging to the table,_ was really the point. She needs to be dazzled in order to be hooked. And this was just the way to do it._

"So how is work?" she asked Ayumi as they sat down. "Can we see the script yet?"

"It was fine and _no_, you cannot see the script yet."

"Oh, come on, come on," the brunette cajoled - Ayumi had the most ridiculous hang-ups about scripts sometimes - before making a bit of a face. "It's been two weeks - you know we'll end up seeing it before anyone else because you've gotten into the habit of running lines with us. So let's see it, shall we?"

"And I'd rather have that be sooner than later," she responded firmly, "because I'm willing to delay the inevitable for as _long_ as possible."

"Like these dates?" Maya teased.

"Exactly," was the fierce response.

Maya laughed.

"I know you're biding your time because you can't find anyone at the moment."

At this Maaya shared a look with Rei. Ayumi seemed pretty convinced by her own sentiments, and who were they to disturb that? Still, it wouldn't do to give her any inkling as to what they had in store for her later this week.

"It's only because you've bullied half the males in the industry, and built a solidly terrifying reputation with the rest." Rei looked convincingly fed up. "We need an unknown."

"No, you both need _lives_. And speaking of lives, why isn't Maya speaking of hers?" Ayumi pinned with a shrewd look that managed to make her appear older than her years. "Rei, hasn't she been suspiciously silent these days?"

The brunette in question feigned innocence.

"Don't try that look with me. When did you see him?"

"Am I an open book?" Maya muttered as she looked heavenwards. Honestly, she was beginning to get the feeling that Ayumi had been clairvoyant in a past life, and that they had become friends if only for the blonde to continuoully blast down her walls and get to her emotions. She hadn't really wanted to do any talking about Hayami Masumi - he was like this delicious little secret that she wanted to keep to herself for the next few days - so she had to think fast. "Operation Forget is not coming along as planned."

"And why not?"

_Why, indeed,_ she thought to herself.

Because she'd seen him, they'd interacted face-to-face, he'd sought her out and made a point of saying that he would continue to do so.

Because she felt as if this was a turning point, despite the hagard way he'd looked all those weeks ago, and the desperate discomfort she'd felt in that limousine long ago.

Because she somehow understood that this was the beginning of something new, and forgetting him would be pretty impossible after it.

"Because he's funding the play," was all she said aloud. "Because Director Kanjika gave him an open invitation to watch any and all of our practices, and I'm sure he's bound to come around soon."

"Well, there is _that_," Ayumi replied thoughtfully. "And he's always made it a point to come to your shows, even in the last three years when he's been slowly pulling back from public appearances."

"Really?"

Maya had never received a bouqet of purple flowers again, not that she expected it, but the absence of such a familiar steady thing had made her wistful. She remembered one time a few months ago, that she'd seen a man about Hayami's height with the _exact_ same shade of dark brown of his hair after a play's opening night. For a minute, a strange double vision had set upon her and she'd found herself moving towards him before the vision dissipated. She'd felt a keening disappointment as she watched the look-a-like walk away, and the entire night had been somewhat dimmed by the experience.

"Are you sure?"

"When is she ever _not_ sure," muttered Rei, pseudo-irritation.

"And when do you ever cease to annoy me?"

Maya laughed a little as she watched the two of them trade well-concealed barbs, then laughed a little harder when a very intimidated waiter moved forward to try and take their order. He must have been something of a fan since he blushed and hummed and struggled with looking any of the three young women in the face, and then blushed and hummed and tripped all the way back to the kitchen with the order.

"Has he come to practice yet?"

"Huh?"

"Lost in thought, I see," Rei said slyly. "Has he been able to come to a practice yet?"

Maya shook her head. She'd been wondering if something might have come up in the week since they'd last seen each other, but she hadn't been able to ask after him with a straight face.

"He hasn't been in to Daitou this week at all, though, so I wouldn't worry just yet," said Ayumi with a comforting smile. "Mother says that he and Shiori are finalizing their...papers, and sorting everything out, so it must be that which has kept him from going anywhere."

_Shiori._

Maya couldn't even begin to explain what the woman's name stirred up in her chest. Sometimes, she'd felt a strange discomfort during the few times that she'd run into her over the years. It was a mixture of regret - because she could admit to herself that she did indeed feel something for the woman's husband - and envy (because...well...she felt quite a bit _more_ than 'something' for the woman's husband!), and it had made it pretty impossible to carry on any sort of decent conversation. Maya had been markedly more reticent around Shiori, and even her manager had carelessly asked 'Is there something going on there?' after one of those awkward meetings.

Now she felt an even bigger burst of regret, but this time _for Shiori_ and not for herself. It must have been hard, to do what she had done, to break things off with him like that, and it must still be hard.

For both of them.

"I see," Maya said lightly, because she did.

"Do you really?" asked Rei, sounding curious.

Maya smiled again, instead of answering, indicated the waiter.

"Your fan returns."

**xXx**

"I haven't worked out yet how to get through this scene," Maya admitted shamelessly. Lunch with Ayumi yesterday had only made her way more determined to corner Toudou Kenj and get him and Ayumi alone. To be fair to both of them, _neither_ of them would see it coming at all. That way her best friend wasn't at a significant disadvantage while going in there blind. She'd figured out that the only way to get to the actor was during the times they worked together since anything else would be too suspicious. He had far more leisure time than she did, since he played best friend to the male lead and had only 3/4 of the scenes that she had.

"I can run them with you, if you'd like." He was friendly enough although he looked a bit puzzled as to why she'd ask him. "Is Mogata-kun in make-up?"

Maya leached on to the excuse with a quickness.

"He must be since I can't seem to find him anywhere around here. Just a few lines would be really appreciated."

Half her mind was on the lines she was reciting to Toudou-san, the other half was working out how to ask her question.

_Subtlety is not really my strong point, _she thought while she listened to what he was saying, _and I don't know how well I could pull off anything- okay, well, it should be fine enough if I invited him to have lunch with us next week, right? But I shouldn't tell him-_

"-right?"

"A-ah?" It looked like he expected an answer from her and Maya scrambled to agree to whatever the heck he was saying. "Ah, yes, indeed."

For some reason, he looked amused.

"You didn't hear a thing I said, did you?"

"What? Of course, I did," she said indignantly.

"So you _meant_ to agree to wearing a chicken suit to help you prep for this line?"

"A-ah?" Uh-oh...he'd called her bluff.

Well, good thing Maya was stubborn until the end.

"Ah, of course I did. I mean, I knew you didn't mean it as a serious suggestion," she said breezily - honestly, she hadn't expected him to be as quick as Ayumi in picking up on things - and waved a hand carelessly. Unfortunately, Toudou-san looked even _more_ amused.

"Well, that's good since that wasn't actually what I said."

"Alright, fine, you've got me." He laughed and Maya rolled her eyes. "I was still trying to bring the character to life in my own head."

"So what did you need me for?"

"Company," Maya said sweetly.

"Ma ma, you should have said so at the start, now shouldn't you?" Toudou-san finally laughed. "Don't mind me - I'll sit here quietly and watch your genius at work."

_He's good-looking, he seems very friendly, and he's easy-going, _Maya thought happily. _Best of all, he's as quick with her mind as she is._

He was the laid-back calm to Ayumi's frenetic energy, the proverbial warmth to her ice. He was also one of the few actors who actually preferred to be out of the limelight. He was four years older than she and the Princess, and although he had been around in the entertainment world for a long time, he was more likely to act in privately produced indie films than mainstream dramas. How the producer had convinced him to participate in _'Shooting Star'_ was beyond Maya. The bottom line was that Toudou Kenji was perfect. He didn't know it yet, but he was perfect.

Now the crux of the plan - how to get this man and her best friend together?

* * *

"And this is it? This is the last of everything?"

The house that he'd returned to was unfamiliar. Everything that Shiori had changed about the place was disappearing faster than he could blink. All the little details - the royal blue curtains she'd bought during that first horrible month, the potted plants she lined the house with, even that damned rug he'd slipped on and almost broken his neck on last June - all of it was slipping away faster than he cared to notice. The movers had finally begun the quick process of getting everything up and out and _gone_ to her new place in Shibuya.

Because when Shiori had said she was leaving, she had really meant it.

All the way to a different city.

His lawyer, a rotund man who was constantly breathing as if he needed a pace-maker, nodded. The divorce papers - actually, it felt like a single sheet of paper in the manilla folder - were here and he'd just been served. He couldn't help the phantom pangs of pain. He wasn't sure he might not descend back into his cups after signing this.

"Now, then?"

"You're free to sign it whenever you please, in the next week, and have it returned to my office."

The faint tone of censure almost made Masumi smile.

Almost.

"Not at all," he said softly, "I'll do it now."

The font was so official, the print so heavy, the black of the ink leaping off the page as if it was clamoring to get his attention. Which it really did not need to do, since _it_ already _had_ his undivided attention. She was getting a generous annual income from the homes she'd renovated for rent in her spare time, and he'd deeded her their newest house in Nigata since she'd intended to do another renovation and rent with it. Everything she'd come into the marriage with was separate and intact, and he'd given her more besides.

It might not ever make up for their failed marriage, but it would at least make her as independent as she'd ever wanted to be, and set her up for an even better life afterwards.

The pen pressed into the sheet of the first page with more weight than he intended, and he had to wince when he realized that he might have made a hole. Still, a few short strokes later, he'd signed the dotted line.

_I am no longer a married man,_ he thought solemnly.

A divorcee.

Who would've ever imagined it?

He signed every single page indicated in the sheaf of paper, and handed it back to the lawyer.

_I certainly wouldn't have._

He was officially among the ranks of the divorced men of Japan. Officially.

"I wish you the best of luck," the portly man said politely before handing him a small white envelope. "The mistress left a forwarding address and the information for her new set of phone numbers. I also believe she left a note. In any case, I'll take my leave."

Masumi was certain he appeared detached on the outside as the man left his office, which was good since he couldn't figure out what he felt on the inside. The lingering self-directed anger was beginning to dissipate after these long three weeks, slowly replaced by a strange...awareness...of the freedom of his new situation. He had to admit that a very small part of him felt guilty for feeling those things, but the rest was vastly relieved to halfway admit that Shiori might have been right.

And he wanted her happy, even if she didn't think he did. He wanted Shiori happy and he was mature enough to admit that he wasn't up to the task.

A knock on the door - damn it, this housewife act from his closest friend in the world was starting to get old - and the man was in.

"How do you feel?"

"Relieved." Karato's face remained expressionless but Masumi paid him no mind. "What's done is done and we're finally both free."

Karato indicated the white envelope with a lazy wave of his hand.

"Message?"

"I swear you know her even better than I do...yes, it is."

Masumi wasn't surprised when the man didn't ask him if he'd read it. Karato never intruded when he felt he was overstepping his bounds, although he'd certainly taken it upon himself to move in and direct te household staff as he saw fit.

"I'm going out in a little while," the blonde man said, and the careful way he said it was a dead giveaway to Masumi. "Do you have anything you want me to run over to the office? I'll be in that area, anyway."

He had a file in this very room on Sawatari Mina that he hadn't actually gotten around to perusing, and with Karato unsuspecting, he would be able to do so.

"Not a one. Go ahead," Masumi said, "I'll see you later on."

He waited for his friend to cross the carpet and exit the door before he tipped back in the chair and looked up at the ceiling. He liked to organize things in his mind sometimes - it was rather the way regular people liked making lists of goals for the day. His mental list wasn't actually very long, neither was it an assembled set of goals, really. In fact, there were three things that concerned him right now: the fact that he was a divorcee, the Sawatari Mina file, and...the fact that he was a divorcee.

_First...the note._

He could still remember how shy Shiori had been at the start of their acquaintance. So regal, so polite, so soft-spoken. He'd once joked to himself that he had better luck having lively conversation with his bedroom walls - and while many might view that as a very cruel thought, Masumi still maintained it to be true. She _had_ been quiet and, as he later learned, unlike herself. As he fingered the edges of the envelope, he wondered what she'd chosen to write about. Her new home? His in-laws? Or ex-in-laws as the case may be... How she was faring without him? He instinctively understood that phone calls were off limits for the next few months - it would be too easy to return to that awkward stage of their relationship where they hadn't been friends - and he realized that this would be far easier for them to maintain.

And he missed her.

He missed talking to her, missed coming home to see her reading a book in their study, or busying herself with some floral arrangement in the kitchen.

Whatever she had to say, he wanted to hear it...he wanted to read it. He wanted to be friends again.

_Masumi,  
I'm sorry I changed the numbers without telling you. I rather thought you wouldn't be trying to reach me, anyway, and thought I'd be able to get the new number information sent to you before you realized. I love the house. But you already knew that, ne?  
I don't know what to say to you here. I think separation is going to be harder than I thought it would be. It's _already_ harder than I thought it would be. I need a little bit of time to myself, so I can better plan for the future, so don't be alarmed if I don't answer calls.  
Don't worry, it'll only be for a little while.  
~Shiori _

Masumi scanned the note again, as if the second time would produce heretofore unseen paragraph, and then placed it on his desk. Reading hadn't been as painful as he'd thought, but it was still pretty damned unsettling. How did one even transition from thinking of himself as a husband and head of household and protector to simply a friend? And even more importantly, what could he say to her that would ease her way? Because he sure as hell didn't think a 'I miss you' would do anything for either of them. It probably wasn't even a healthy. Besides, she didn't want to hear from, did she?

She needed some time to herself.

Masumi owed her that, at the very least.

_I don't think I'll be getting to the rest of that list, _he thought wearily. He knew himself enough to recognize that he was quickly entering one of his deeply thoughtful moods.

That was alright, the Sawatari file could wait.


End file.
